Chapter 285. Iwagakure's New Plan
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After all the ninja villages had withdrawn, Konoha returned to its usual state.
The Chunin Exams were just a brief change of pace in daily life—afterward, life simply went on as before.
Jiraiya hadn't shown up much since making an appearance on the first day. However, word had it that the handsome dance king from back in the day had resurfaced among the square dance troupe and quickly taken over as their leader.
Of course, the newest volumes of his novel had already been released, and Yuto got his hands on them. They'd been printed and published, and the response was decent.
The Root Studio was also shooting a new film titled [Konoha Partners]. Honestly… Yuto was quite interested in that one. But it wouldn't be hitting theaters for a while—not until after the Ninja Grand Prix.
That said—
He heard that Root Studio had recently started delving into coding. It seemed Danzo really was planning to tap into the internet space.
Of course—
No one yet knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Since the day after Hyuga Hanabi got drunk and left on a mission, it had already been half a month without her returning home. Who knew what kind of terrifying mission required that much time?
Judging by things…
She was probably sent abroad! Otherwise—
She would've at least called.
As for Yuto… over the past few days, it was business as usual—grabbing whatever needed grabbing, slacking off whenever he could.
But the Hyuga clan had seen some big changes. Reportedly, thanks to their stable jobs (as human detectors), the long-standing tension between the main and branch families had eased.
Hyuga Neji had just started school this year, and he still had a few years before graduation~
Who could say what might happen?
Online, the talk of the Chunin Exams had started to fade. Most of the chatter now revolved around the upcoming Ninja Grand Prix.
It was said—
The female racer Uzumaki Kushina, wife of the Fourth Hokage, had also signed up. Her partner, the Nine-Tails Beast Car, had been massively modified at great cost by the Fourth Hokage himself. The entire vehicle blazed like a raging fire!
It looked seriously cool.
Many contestants like Kakashi were also upgrading their race cars in the meantime.
Even Root Studio planned to send a racer and slap their studio's logo across the car. As for their lead driver… it would be none other than the Third Hokage!
They had originally planned to have Asuma lead the team, giving the younger generation a shot, but on the very day the Chunin Exams ended, Asuma mysteriously ended up hospitalized again. He missed the ideal training window and had to be dropped from the lineup.
What a shame.
And honestly—
Danzo was getting better and better at marketing! No wonder he once went bankrupt by 4 billion and still returned to the business world unfazed, ready to fight again!
The ninja world…
It really was changing by the day!
…
At that moment—
Iwagakure.
The Third Tsuchikage sat with arms crossed, studying the information gathered during the Chunin Exams. His brows gradually furrowed.
He—
He had truly not expected—
The other villages had changed this much?!
He sighed internally. Is this what that guy meant by 'the times have changed'?
Especially Sunagakure… their transformation was even more dramatic!
He remembered during the Third Ninja World War, the mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage had plunged Sunagakure into crisis.
They were dragged into a joint assault on the Land of Fire by Iwagakure, only to suffer defeat… and then be blamed by the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, who cut off their funding.
As a result, to keep the village running, the Fourth Kazekage had no choice but to implement elite-only education—focusing resources on cultivating top-tier ninja while reducing overall numbers—and relying on his own abilities to pan for gold in the desert!
And yet—
In just a few short years, they had bounced back.
With income from second-stage processing and filmmaking, they'd raked in massive profits and were no longer short on funds.
Not to mention the other three villages!
All of them were raking in a lot of money!
Looking at it that way—
The advantage of Iwagakure seemed to be gone!
And not long ago, they'd even fallen into a pyramid scheme. The Land of Earth was facing severe financial shortages.
It's really abominable!
Though the Chunin Exams hadn't shown a large difference in ninja capabilities yet, if things kept going like this…
The four wealthier villages would only pull further and further ahead of Iwagakure.
And so—
Just thinking about it made the Third Tsuchikage feel awful.
"We can't keep going like this!" Onoki said darkly, his voice grave. "The gap is already starting to widen!"
As soon as he finished speaking—
From the tone of the Third Tsuchikage, all the elders could tell that the situation might be far more serious than they had imagined.
However—
"Third Tsuchikage…" someone hesitated. "What should we do?"
Were they really going to bring in that Uchiha brat's thing?
They still remembered back when the Third Tsuchikage represented Iwagakure to seek aid from Konoha, only to be completely overwhelmed by that terrifying monster—unable to even stand.
Who knew…
If the Uchiha clan was hiding some other secret this time? As for being expelled from the Uchiha clan—who would believe that?!
If you have the guts, kill the person as a traitor!
Everyone silently looked at the Third Tsuchikage.
However—
"…" Onoki himself didn't know what to do at the moment, so he didn't speak. He simply maintained his previous posture, hands crossed in front of his chin, lost in thought.
Unknowingly—
The entire meeting room fell into silence.
Everyone waited quietly for the Third Tsuchikage's plan.
Roughly fifteen minutes passed…
Onoki's face showed a hint of conflict, but shortly after… his eyes widened, a flash of determination appearing in them as he spoke coldly, "Iwagakure can't wait any longer!"
As soon as he said that—
Everyone sighed.
As expected.
Is it still going to be like this?
"In that case… I'll arrange for someone to negotiate with the Yuto Group and let the Land of Earth—"
Before the elder could finish—
"No!" the Third Tsuchikage shook his head sternly. "That's not what I meant!"
"???"
Everyone looked even more confused, turning their puzzled gazes to him.
Then—
The Third Tsuchikage's eyes flickered as he continued, "Kumogakure is going to host the Ninja Grand Prix for the entire ninja world…"
Before he could finish—
Everyone's hearts skipped a beat, eyes widening in disbelief as they looked at the Tsuchikage. "Are you planning to…"
"Iwagakure must obstruct the development of the other villages," the Third Tsuchikage nodded solemnly. "We can't let this continue!"
"But we alone simply can't…"
"That's why we need allies!" the Third Tsuchikage narrowed his eyes, his voice grim. "We can't just keep waiting like this. Starting now… Iwagakure will enter wartime preparations!"
As soon as he said that—
"…"
Everyone looked at each other, then nodded with equally serious expressions. "Understood!"
That's right.
They, Iwagakure, couldn't afford to wait any longer.
…
Time flew by.
The date of the Ninja Grand Prix drew closer and closer.
The atmosphere of the entire ninja world was once again slowly heating up.
Everyone was eagerly anticipating what kind of excitement would happen in this… racing tournament.
At this moment—
Somewhere in the ninja world—
A man with single-bean-shaped glowing green eyes was staring at his car, constantly working on it as if modifying something. A cold smirk curled on his lips as he said flatly, "Ten million? I'll take it!"
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